After Morlock's death, a total of four pieces of Iron Rank equipment dropped. Each person also received 34 copper coins and a considerable amount of experience points. Shi Feng obtained a pair of Wind Destruction greaves, completing two pieces of the Wind Destruction set.
Seeing how easily Boss Morlock had been taken down, everyone exchanged glances and smiled, feeling that having Shi Feng join the team was truly a blessing.
The group had completely shed the tension of running the dungeon. They were chatting and laughing, bonding with Shi Feng, and one by one they took turns asking him for combat tips.
Under Shi Feng's casual guidance, the group grew increasingly impressed with him. His offhand advice had led to noticeable improvements among many members of the party.
Through lighthearted conversation, the group finally arrived at the Throne Hall, where they saw the final boss—Dark Warlock Salu.
Dark Warlock Salu. Grand Leader. Level 12. HP: 500,000.
While Shi Feng and his group reached the final boss, Dark Star's Weidu Dukuang was still attempting to clear the first boss, Kalul.
By now, Weidu Dukuang and his team had wiped three times, dying to the Clone Slash every time with no progress whatsoever.
This drove Weidu Dukuang into a frenzy. He couldn't understand why the difficulty had spiked so dramatically for a twenty-man party.
After thinking it over for a long time, Weidu Dukuang finally identified the issue.
"This boss has to be taken down fast. But our damage output isn't enough. Unless everyone's gear gets upgraded further, there's no way we can clear this. Do we really have to go back and farm better equipment first?" Weidu Dukuang stared at Kalul, his expression hesitant.
Having boasted so loudly before, he was now trapped in a dilemma. But when he considered that even his own team couldn't pull it off, the Assassin Alliance—with their inferior equipment—certainly stood no chance. They were probably stuck at the first boss just like him. That thought immediately lifted his spirits. He decided to study the fight a bit more and give it another shot.
Meanwhile, in the magnificently decorated Throne Hall, the Assassin Alliance was already studying Salu's abilities.
Aside from ordinary Shadow Arrow attacks and being immune to stuns and crowd control, Salu had two main abilities. The first was a Shadow AoE that fired twelve Shadow Arrows in rapid succession, each dealing 800 damage and inflicting Fear for 6 seconds.
The second was summoning Flame Giants. These were level 12 special elites, and each Flame Giant had a persistent burning effect that dealt 300 fire damage per second to everything within a 10-yard radius. They had 50,000 HP.
This was the most challenging aspect of Boss Salu, because the Flame Giants' burning effect dealt AoE damage—300 fire damage per second. Anyone who wasn't a tank would last at most four or five seconds. And a new Flame Giant would be summoned every one to two minutes. Combined with the Shadow AoE's Fear effect, countless guild teams had perished under this deadly combination.
Even if a team wasn't immediately wiped by this combo, having three Flame Giants running around on the field was equally devastating. After all, 900 damage per second was more than even Shi Feng could endure for three seconds. Death was inevitable, let alone for everyone else.
But focusing fire on a Flame Giant with 50,000 HP would take considerable time. During that period, Boss Salu would regenerate through combat recovery, restoring his health completely. This attrition would eventually drain the healers of their mana, and without healing, the result would still be a wipe.
After sending five or six members to run several tests, the group finally grasped the true power of Dark Warlock Salu. Their faces sank, and all confidence evaporated.
Setting aside the fact that Salu's ordinary Shadow Arrows dealt 800 damage to the tank and 1,000 damage to regular players, the Flame Giants alone were incredibly dangerous. Melee fighters couldn't get anywhere near them. Even if the tank tried to hold aggro, the healers couldn't keep up—not to mention Salu's Shadow AoE, which could suddenly deal 800 damage to the entire party.
The Flame Giant's physical attacks alone dealt over 300 damage to the tank, and with the burning effect adding another 300, that was practically equivalent to facing another boss. If the tank was hit by the Shadow AoE at the same time, they would be instantly killed. And if the first Flame Giant wasn't destroyed within one or two minutes, Salu would summon a second one. With both attacking simultaneously, the tank would still die.